The Republican nominee to be Florida’s next governor told potential voters that they should not “monkey this up” by voting for Andrew Gillum, his Black Democratic challenger, who pulled off an upset on Tuesday’s primary race.
Ron DeSantis was on Fox News with Sandra Smith on Wednesday and called Gillum “an articulate spokesman” who performed better than his Democratic opponents, but that Florida voters should reject him.
“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state,” DeSantis said of Gillum, who’s backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. “That is not going to work, that’s not going to be good for Florida, so I’m going to fight for what I believe in.”
DeSantis, who is supported by President Donald Trump, was criticized by the Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman, Terrie Rizzo, for the seemingly “racist” remark.
“It’s disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles,” Rizzo told HuffPost.
Uh Ron DeSantis just said FL shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Andrew Gillum pic.twitter.com/nDPp3Hx7zc
— Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) August 29, 2018
